MAAS TO REDBLACKS?
Expected to run team offence
For a moment, assume Jason Maas will indeed be the Ottawa Redblacks’ new offensive co-ordinator.
Who is he and should Redblacks fans expect that hiring him to replace the fired Mike Gibson will make any difference to an offence that ranked at or near the bottom of the Canadian Football League last season? The first part is easy. Maas turned 39 in November, making him slightly more than five months younger than Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris. Born in Wisconsin, he attended high school in Yuma, Ariz., and the University of Oregon, receiving spot duty as Ducks quarterback.
After not cracking the roster of the Baltimore Ravens in 1999, he played the first of his 11 CFL seasons in 2000 with the Edmonton Eskimos. He also played for the Tiger-Cats and Alouettes. He was twice a finalist for the most outstanding player award. Overall, he was 1,256-for-2,055 for 17,126 yards with 81 touchdown throws and 64 interceptions.
In 2004, he had 5,270 yards and 31 touchdowns passing and also ran for eight touchdowns. On July 30, he established a CFL record with 22 consecutive completions against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He had 535 yards and four touchdowns passing and ran for a score as the Eskimos won 41-24. He retired in May 2011, seven months before the Toronto Argonauts hired him as an assistant coach. He worked with quarterbacks for one season and receivers for two.
The second evaluation is more subjective, but the Redblacks had to shake up an offence that was the primary reason they won just two of 18 games and none on the road.
Overall, CFL teams value the experience gained from playing quarterback when designing and executing an offence. Five of the 10 offensive co-ordinators this past season played QB in the CFL at some point, and so did three of nine head coaches. Three of the four men in those positions for the Grey Cup combatants, the Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, were among that group.
Three other offensive co-ordinators, including Gibson, were linemen during their playing careers, while Hamilton’s Tommy Condell was a former receiver and Winnipeg’s Marcel Bellefeuille was a University of Ottawa defensive back.
Maas should also know Burris well, given that their playing careers overlapped for a decade. Smilin’ Hank’s teams won 18 of 31 matchups and Maas spent many of those games on the sidelines in a backup role, but Maas can always offer a retort about coming off the bench in the second half to rally the Eskimos to a 33-26 playoff victory against Burris and the Stampeders in 2005. He was 15-for-18 for 144 yards and a touchdown that day.
As the Redblacks head into their second season, the coaching experience Maas gained in Toronto could come in handy. Because of a wave of injuries, 22 different Argos caught passes in 2014. The Red- blacks weren’t far behind with 19 receivers, although that had a lot to do with the roster shuffling of an expansion franchise.
Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell is also well-acquainted with Maas, having spent several seasons as a defensive and specialteams assistant coach with the Eskimos in the early 2000s.
General manager Marcel Desjardins gave nothing away on Monday when sked about the projected hiring of Maas. “No comment, chuckle chuckle,” Desjardins said, though he did allow a decision had been made and an announcement was expected this week.
In truth, there’s nothing that says the Redblacks must hire Maas now, but they would want to allow him to meet other coaches before the holiday break. He’ll also be expected to chime in on assessments of players already on the roster and CFLers poised to become free agents when contracts expire in February.
Key among the assessments will be that for Burris, who is No. 3 all-time in CFL passing yards and touchdowns, but also was targeted for a significant amount of criticism this past season. He turns 40 during training camp, so the Redblacks will also have to start thinking about “the next guy.”